There are many ways to look at the 10 year government bond rates.They give us an idea of might be the risk free rate of return in any given country.Compared across the world,they could be a way of understanding how risky the world considers investing in any country to be.However governments try everything in their power to influence this rate to manage their debt,manage inflation etc.so each figure needs to be understood in its context.Comparing government bond rates across tenures in any country allows us to get an idea of the yield curve and the economic prospects of the economy.

Here is a link to a constantly updated list of 10 year government bond rates.Link

A non-convertible debenture is a fixed income instrument where the issuer agrees to pay a fixed rate of interest to the investor. An NCD cannot be converted into equity of the issuing company unlike convertible debentures.NCDs are good substitutes for fixed deposits,especially company deposits.

Debentures are of two types secured and unsecured. The debentures with a “charge” on the assets of the issuer are called secured debentures. So in case of a default by the issuer, the secured debenture holders are paid by selling the assets against which the charge was created. Secured NCDs offer lower interest than their unsecured counterparts. Read more of this post

The yield curve is a graph that plots the yields of similar-quality debt instruments against their maturities, ranging from shortest to longest. The yield curve is is also known as the term structure of interest rates. As yield curve shows the various yields that are currently being offered on debt instruments of different maturities it helps investors quickly compare the yields offered by short-term, medium-term and long-term debt instruments.

The yield curve can take three primary shapes. If short-term yields are lower than long-term yields i.e.the line is sloping upwards, then the curve is referred to a positive (or “normal”) yield curve. Below you’ll find an example of a normal yield curve.